X25
by Jarvy Jared
Summary: When a scientist and his android friend land on a mysterious planet, tasked with discovering why it survived its parent star's supernova, they will find an answer to one of humanity's most obscure mysteries.


In the year 3245, on December 25th, Starship 1225 lifted off early in the morning, on a voyage to another planet. It was part of the Epsilon Space Program, created for the sole purpose of studying exoplanets on the personal level. It was one of the smaller ships, having only two humans on board. The rest of the occupants were a female AI and several worker androids. (Really, it was more of a transport barge than a starship.)

It resembled the shape of a Mercedez-Benz future car, only much larger, and with several modules connecting to each other. The nickel-coated plating on the ship's exterior contrasted sharply with the darkness of space. The embellished model number was a carbon grey with a silver outline around the numbers. Three rocket propulsion engines were attached to the end, blue fire glowing fiercely. Near the windows were an array of neon-blue lights.

The starship's computer started up the Dark Energy Travel Program. The DETP ring expanded from the middle module of the ship, the white metal contrasting with the blackness of space. A low hum sounded as the ship opened its dark energy cores and the energy poured out. Another program activated, creating an artificial gravity well that kept the energy in place.

Now the energy was contained between the ship and space, its seams pushing aggressively against the artificial gravity. The computer coaxed the energy into subjugation, promising it a bit of freedom after it performed its given task. Grudgingly, the energy conceded defeat, and waited for the command.

Jet also waited. Inside the bridge of the ship he stood, staring out into the unknown. Embellished on his labcoat were the letters for the Epsilon Space Program, ESP. Underneath that were his name tag and clearance rank, glowing teal-blue. He had a rosary hung around his neck.

Behind him, an android let out a robotic sigh. "Jet, what are you waiting for?"  
Jet turned around and gave the android a small smile. "One has to calculate everything, D4L3. Even the most miniscule of errors can unleash a multitude of misfortunes."

"The Butterfly Effect," D4L3 replied. "I am familiar with it. But you know I am not programmed to wait eternally. I'm not an ordinary worker bot, remember?"

"How could I forget, when you constantly remind me?"

"Point taken. You still have not fully answered my inquiries."

"If you must know, I'm waiting for something to pass. Our fellow scientists on earth had predicted a planet, many light years away, being in our way. We had to wait."

"Is it gone?"

Jet paused, then turned to the computer. "Computer, check to see if Planet B664 has passed our intended route."

"Calculating: Results show: Positive. Planet has moved."

"Excellent," said Jet. He turned back to the android. "Would you care to do the honors?"

D4L3 appeared to smirk. "It would be my pleasure." He moved past Jet and stood in front of the computer. "Computer," he commanded, "Execute command 334, designated as Dark Energy Travel."

"Processing: Requires affirmation of senior scientist Jet."

"Initiate," Jet said. He clutched the rosary firmly.

There was a low hum; then, the Dark Energy Inhibitors morphed the energy into positive and negative charged halves; positive in front, negative in back. Light from the sun and surrounding galacti appeared to be drawn towards the ship, so great was the gravity the energy produced. Light morphed around and time slowed, as the ship began pulling space in and discharging it behind. Space then appeared to form a funnel, and the ship entered. All of the observable space was in the funnel, all on the insides, in a curved formation, all revolving around the ship at near-lightspeed.

The ship vanished in the blink of an eye.

Eventually the dark energy released grew sparse, and the computer executed a command to reel in the remnants. Space-time slowed its rapid revolving, and suddenly the ship was in a large, exo-solar system.

A large, spherical, brown object appeared out of nowhere. It careened towards the ship with destructive intent.

"Initiating Emergency Maneuvers," the computer said.

The thrusters on the back pointed upward and plasma energy streamed out, causing the ship to forcibly push down. Jet's vision went dark for a second as the G's got to him. The object silently and harmless passed the ship.

As Jet recovered, D4L3 asked, "What was that?"

The computer responded, "Android D four L three: that was an asteroid. A large one, in fact; roughly 230 kilometers across."

"Where exactly are we?" asked Jet.

"We are in Star System designate X000. The parent star had supernovaed several thousand years ago. All but one planet perished. What you see as asteroids are the remains of planetoids long destroyed."

"I see," said Jet. "Computer, pull up the mission briefing."

"Affirmative: Pulling up briefing."

"Please read."

" 'From Senior Scientist Dale: Our current analysis of Planet X25 shows it is nothing out of the ordinary. However, it was the third planet in the star system. Logic deems that it would have been destroyed with the other planets in said system; however, such is not the case. While this is nothing more than a mission of curiosity, it may prove important that we know more about this particular planet. Therefore you, Jet, will be sent to this planet for on-site analysis.' "

Jet swiped his hand to the right, and the message went offscreen. "I see . . ." he muttered. "Computer, set a course for X25. And avoid any incoming asteroids, would you, JANE?" He and D4L3 sat in the pilots' chairs.

D4L3 said, "You can also cut that typical AI talk, lady."

On-screen, an image of a rectangle with a smiley face flickered. "Understood. Gentlemen, buckle up and take a seat. This will be a bumpy ride." JANE enabled the thrusters and the ship blasted off towards the planet.

After dodging numerous asteroids and rocky remnants of planets' cores, the ship touched down onto planet X25.

Onboard, an oxygen field performed the role of a barrier between the cargo area—where Jet, D4L3, and a team of worker bots waited—and the cargo bay. According the JANE's measurements, there was too little oxygen in the atmosphere to breathe easily, so Jet had to wear a cumbersome space suit outfitted with a large oxygen tank. He grumbled to D4L3 how he preferred working with his hands free of too large gloves; the android responded by asking Jet if he prefered to die of asphyxiation before he actually got anything done.

The cargo bay doors opened up, revealing a sorrowful sight. The terrain was similar to that on Mars: dusty, red, and barren. At least on Mars there were human colonies breathing new life into the Red Planet. Here, though, it appeared there never was any life. Hills rolled over dirty dunes in the distance. Their older brothers, the mountains, stretched their peaks towards the sky. Above, the white dwarf shone brightly, glaring off of the ship's exterior.

Jet took the lead with D4L3 and the worker bots following behind. Dust coated his helmet and painted his suit rusty-red. He wiped his finger on a patch of dust and held it up in front of him. A miniature HUD inside the helmet analyzed the patch, revealing interesting data.

"That's odd," said Jet. "There should be a lot of radiation left over from the supernova, even after all this time. But there is hardly any left."

"Perhaps the radiation seeped out," said D4L3, "and left the planet."

"Somehow, I don't believe that. This dust is made up of a mineral called Number 27-4. It can absorb a large amount of radiation, provided there is a lot of it. And with a whole planet full of N27-4 . . . where did the radiation all go?"

Jet shook his head. This mystery would have to be put aside. "D4L3," he commanded, "Set up an analysis station on that flat land in front of us." He pointed to the preferred location. "Get some information on the terrain, preferably on radiation levels."

"Understood," the android responded. He began instructing the worker bots to bring out certain materials.

Jet went back inside for a moment, then came out with a telescope with a special lens and an HIT, a Holographic Interface Tablet. "While the bots are working, I'd better examine that dwarf star," he muttered. "I'd like to know when it exploded." He set all this up on a nearby hill adjacent to the ship.

The lens on the telescope enabled the user to see the radiation "rings" surrounding a focal point. These rings were invisible to the naked eye. They were imperative to understanding how long ago a star died, as the rings showed the age of the star. And because stars constantly spewed out radiation, this form of age measurement was extremely precise.

The way scientists measured these rings was based on two simple concepts: the spectrum, and the distance. The spectrum, of course, referred to the visible light spectrum. Based on the colors of the rings, scientists could tell if they were old or young. If the ring color was on the right side of the spectrum—from teal to dark purple—it was young. Likewise, if the color was on the left side—that is, yellow-green to dark red—then it was old.

Measuring the distance between rings and the star answered the question of specific age. To measure how long ago the first radiation rings left, scientist would measure the distance from the first ring to its parent star, then divide by the circumference of the ring. This method was proved right when scientists used it to measure how long ago the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula were formed by a supernova.

Rings farther away from the star were, of course, older, as they were the first set of radiation to leave its parent; therefore, rings closer to the star were younger. The colors of the rings based on the VLS further solidified this fact.

Jet quickly located the first fifty ring sets and took note of the color of the furthest compared to the nearest. The closer one was only teal-blue; perhaps it had been expunged when they had arrived. The furthest one was a dark-orange, so it wasn't too old. The distance from the furthest ring to the parent star was roughly 650,285,020 miles. The star was taking up the center of the ring, so Jet would have to calculate the radius first in order to find the circumference. This came to be 31,894.01 miles. The circumference therefore became 200,396. Dividing the distance by the circumference came out to be . . .

_Huh_, Jet thought. _3245\. That recent? Why are there no records? _He checked his measurements. They were right. Very, very odd indeed.

He had a hunch that there were some "power" involved in this, but he had no idea. He continued observing the star and taking various notes on the HIT.

Soon he had all the information he needed, and more. He smiled to himself as he packed up the telescope and HIT. "Paul Dirac was right," he said, " 'God _did_ use beautiful mathematics in creating the world.'

"But God certainly knew what He was doing when He triggered the supernova. Impressive."

Meanwhile, D4L3 was making several interesting discoveries.

After the worker bots had set up a station on the designated location, D4L3 took it upon himself to examine the soil of X25. He placed them under an advanced version of a light microscope for observations.

They were fairly simple specks of dirt, composed of magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium. They shouldn't have been any more interesting, but according to his interfaced computer, there was more to these specks than what it appeared to be. His computer indicated an anomaly within the atomic structure of each element. Under a light microscope he would not be able to observe said structure. He removed the sample and pressed a button near his chest, opening his advanced field kit. He placed the sample inside. His own advanced electron microscope would be able to pinpoint what the anomaly was.

He waited as the computer calibrated the microscope for analysis. An image popped up in front of him, showing the atomic structure of magnesium. He noted how the molecules appeared to be drawn towards one center. "How odd," spoke D4L3 aloud. "Each molecule should be equally drawn towards one another."

He thought for a second, then said: "Zoom in."

The image zoomed in on one point, showing the individual electrons, protons, and neutrons.

"Zoom in on one proton."

Now the image showed the two up quarks and the one down quark of the proton. They were not spread out, however; they were clumped together around a near invisible mass. Almost like fans around a celebrity.

"Zoom in on that space between the three quarks."

"Error: Not sufficient energy for analysis. Require excess power for Extreme Zoom."

D4L3 considered this. He could reroute his power cell to the microscope, but he would risk losing too much power and depowering in the middle of his analysis. He peered over to the ship and noticed an open hatch containing the "socket" that powered the lights of the work station. He walked over and plugged himself in with a stray cord. The ship's electrical energy flowed through him, and his eyes turned teal blue.

"Warning: Excess power. Overload iminent."

"Transfer all excess power into microscope."

"Transferring."

There was a low hum as the energy powered the microscope's Extreme Zoom function. Suddenly the image in front of D4L3 focused on the singular point of the anomaly. A single particle, smaller than a quark, floated around, bouncing with molecular space-time (that is, gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear forces interacting on the molecular level.)

D4L3 noted the attraction between the molecule and the quarks. This was unlike any attraction between any molecule he had ever seem. Under normal circumstances, the attraction between individual molecules would be based on their mass and distance. Size hardly mattered, as singularities and black holes explained. Odd how something so small in mass would have similar properties to a singularity. Almost as if it were—

He stopped. "Could it be?" he said. "The particle that completes the Standard Model of Physics, right here?" Once again he observed the particle, keeping track of all its movements, all its properties. And found that he was right.

This was the Higgs Boson. More commonly known as the God Particle. The boson that singlehandedly allows anything to have mass.

Rumored to be the creator of all particles in the universe.

And, lately, thought to have supernatural origins.

Several examinations into the structure of the Higgs Boson revealed several interesting facts. The most notable was that the structure was arranged in a cross-like structure, the top always facing the positively charged side. Philosophically wise, this could mean that the Boson represented good triumphing evil: the top meant justice, bottom meant oppression.

But D4L3 was no philosopher. He was a scientist android. He looked for facts, not fiction.

Yet here before stood a remnant of a higher power thought gone. " 'God never ends anything on a negative; God always ends on a positive,' as Edwin Louis Cole once said," stated D4L3. "Interesting."

Soon day was turning to night, and Jet and D4L3 were to return to the ship. On the way back they met up and began conversing with one another about their discoveries.

"The furthest ring is exactly 3245 earth-years old," said Jet as the two trudged in the dirt. "Although, right now it is older than when I measured it, by only a few hours."

"Ah, you used the radiation ring method, I see," replied D4L3.

"Precisely. Do you realize what this means, D4L3?"

"The star supernovaed at zero year . . ."

"Which is better known as—"

"Christ's day of birth?"

"Exactly. Furthermore, it would appear that the supernova was a powerful one, and a person could have seen it with the naked eye.

Although, I have one more measurement I need to fulfill for a final conclusion. What have you found?"  
"Several interesting facts, Jet. The elements and their atoms on X25 are intriguing. Each of the quarks within each atom is attracted to a 'center,' if you will. Upon further analysis I have concluded that this 'center' is actually the Higgs Boson."

"The God Particle!"

"Yes. The Creator Particle. Maker of all things that have matter."

They continued talking until they reached the ship. They boarded, and the ship shot up into low orbit.

"Find anything interesting, gentlemen?" said JANE as the human and the android made their way to the front of the starship. They both replied enthusiastically, and proceeded to recall their discoveries with JANE. When both were finished, JANE asked, "Is there anything we need before we leave system X000, Jet?"

"Just one thing," the senior scientist replied. "JANE, please pull up a time frame of December 25th."

"Year?" the computer asked.

"0000." There was a ding, and a time frame of past events appeared on the screen. Details of three wise men, an evil king, and a virgin and a carpenter making their way to an Israeli town were portrayed upon the screen.

"Pull up any celestial files we have on that day."

JANE obliged. Another ding; then, a computer rendered image of the only known cosmic event. A star, extremely bright, that only the three wise men were aware of; a star that pointed them towards a stable where, draped in swaddling clothes and surrounded by animals, a baby lay.

"Jet?" JANE asked. "What are you looking for?"

"Can you tell me how far away that star was when it exploded?"

"Scanning: roughly 1.3 billion light-years away. Why?"

"How far away is the X000 star from earth?"

"Scanning: 1.3 billion light-years away. Wait—"

Jet smiled enormously. "That's all I needed, JANE. Thank you." He turned towards D4L3. "What do you think?"  
"What do you mean?"

"A star explodes and everything in its system dies with it, save for X25. Why?"

"It's almost as if it was chosen to survive. As if, it was waiting for someone to explore it—"  
"And find answers. Something or someone kept that planet intact so that humanity would have a chance to see for themselves and understand."

"Understand what?"

Jet's eyes shined brightly. "God works in mysterious ways, my friend. And we are witnesses to what was his first step in a greater plan."

Once again a command was given, and dark energy poured out. A wormhole opened in front of Starship 1225. Space-time whirled around in a torrent of energy, a funnel of mystery and intrigue. Light and dark interacted on a radical scale, bouncing off non-existent walls as the starship entered the portal between star systems. The neon-blue lights appeared to warp as gravity, electromagnetism, weak, and strong nuclear force pushed themselves upon the vessel. A voice called out, "Initiate!" and the ship lurched forward. Space contracted and expelled; and the ship was gone.

A lone planet orbiting an abandoned white dwarf remained. Oddly enough, a feeling of satisfaction and pride seemed to flow over the system. It was similar to how a father watches over His children, proud of their accomplishments. Somewhere, a greater entity smiled with joy.


End file.
